After quarterback, running back, fullback, wide receiver, tight end, and offensive tackle, the next stop on our trip around the Tennessee Titans position by position as we head into the 2015 offseason is offensive guard.
The 2005 draft, namely one fateful trade with the Detroit Lions, fixed both offensive tackle spots for the better part of a decade, and that was apparent by mid-season 2006. The 2013 offseason was supposed to have a similarly transformative effect at offensive guard. So far, both the big-dollar free agent and the high draft pick have been mainstays of the lineup, combined missing only 3 snaps in 2014, but results on the field were underwhelming again in 2014. Nevertheless, both starters can probably have their names written into the starting lineup in pen again in 2015.
I commented around midseason that I thought Andy Levitre was the Titans’ second-best offensive lineman most games, behind only the left tackle. I thought I might get more push-back on that statement, but people (a) agreed with me, (b) ignored my tweet, or (c) decided that was just Tom being Tom again and not worth discussing. Your evaluation of Levitre’s play depends in part on your philosophy of offensive line evaluation. For most of the game, say 55 of 60 plays, he does his job reasonably or fairly well. The other 5 or so plays a game, what seems like fundamental strength issues that have been exacerbated by consistent injury issues in Tennessee can produce some fairly ugly results. By a binary grading scale like I normally use when I take play-by-play notes, he fares reasonably well. A scale in which majorly negative plays are more strongly weighted will view his play less favorably.
Another team, one in a different space in several key areas, might have a fascinating decision to make on Levitre. He’s been mostly solid, but they’re probably somewhat dissatisfied with his play relative to the contract they gave him and their expectations. Left guard is typically one of the easiest positions on the offensive line to fill, and cutting Levitre would produce some cap savings. On the other hand, (a) the cap savings wouldn’t be that significant ($2.3 million), (b) it’s not like the Titans are facing any sort of cap crunch and need the money, (c) if you believe his most significant issues are injury-created, a finally healthy offseason like this appears to be could result in a much better Levitre in 2015, and (d) the Titans have too many other significant needs to cut a player who’s average at worst. He’ll be the left guard again in 2015, and I hope he’s better.
The book on Chance Warmack is still being written. I wrote in the preseason positional analysis about how he was one of the most important “X factors” for me on the Titans offense in 2014. He was better, most notably in the final five or so games, which left the first 11 or so where he continued to be a disappointment for me. The open book on him makes him a hard player to write a brief overview, like I prefer to do in this little series, about. As I’ve mentioned in the past, I am absolutely not a highly technical observer of offensive line play, and you need to be to say something really insightful about a player whose book is still being written. The optimistic view on him is the end of 2014 represented a “breakthrough,” and going forward he will be the sort of standout right guard the Titans were expecting when they made him the tenth overall pick in 2013. The pessimistic view is even really average players can have a good stretch, especially at a position that doesn’t produce conventional statistics and where it can be challenging to pin down more precise evaluations, and it’s not like the Titans were any good on offense in the final five games and what matters on the offensive line is the weakest point, which everyone could see was tackle.
I’m not quite as much in the pessimistic camp as my normal glass-mostly-empty approach and that outline would make it seem. I’d say I’m more guardedly optimistic and expect him to be at least an average right guard in 2015, with some occasional lapses in pass protection, some frustrating misses on the backside of zone runs, and hopefully to see him play with consistently good leverage. My guess, and this is a hard subject for me to write about, is the Titans will ask that he continue to do body work this offseason, and that continued body work could help his game improve. Either way, he’ll play every or almost every snap again at right guard (964 of 966 in 2014, so he missed twice as much time as Levitre!).
Two guards who played almost every snap made the depth question pretty irrelevant in 2014. The Titans only carried eight offensive linemen most of the season, and never carried more than one backup interior offensive lineman. For most of the season, that was Chris Spencer, who I will discuss in the upcoming center positional analysis. For the final five games, Eric Olsen filled that spot. He did not make the team out of training camp, but was still on the street when Brian Schwenke went to IR. He played 16 total snaps, most of them as a sixth offensive lineman. Not under contract for 2015, he could be an option to return if the Titans don’t find anybody else they want for the same interior reserve position. The other guard on the team is Justin McCray, a rookie undrafted free agent last year who spent the regular season on the practice squad and was signed to a futures contract at season’s end. As far as I know, he has never played center and is therefore likely only a roster candidate if the Titans keep two reserve interior offensive linemen.
Conclusion-Type Things
Andy Levitre and Chance Warmack will be your starters again in 2015. The Titans need them to play better. There are reasonable cases to make where both players could play up to the Titans’ expectations for them when they acquired them. Those were reasonable cases in 2014, too, and they didn’t come to pass. We’ll see if they come to pass in 2015. Depth could be an issue in the event of an injury.
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